West Bengal’s ruling TMC asserted on Wednesday that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) will not be implemented in the state, dismissing reports of imminent CAA rules notification ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and alleging that such speculations intend to mislead the public before the parliamentary polls. Rules for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 will be notified “much before” the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections, a senior government functionary had said on Tuesday.
Under the CAA brought in by the Narendra Modi government, Indian nationality will be granted to persecuted non-Muslim migrants — Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians — from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who had come to India till December 31, 2014.
TMC minister Shashi Panja affirmed the party’s stance stating, “Our party supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said CAA won’t be implemented in West Bengal. Those who are making such promises before the Lok Sabha election are attempting to mislead the people.”
“They have passed the law but are yet to frame the rules. This is nothing but an attempt to fool the masses before the Lok Sabha elections,” she said.
Addressing concerns raised by Banerjee about citizenship in border areas, Panja emphasised, “Those who already have citizenship, why will they again need to apply for it? CAA will never be implemented in Bengal.”
Responding to Panja’s comments, West Bengal BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya accused the TMC of opposing CAA to cater to its vote bank politics. He asserted, “The TMC is neither interested in the development of the country nor in national security. They are only interested in vote bank politics. The TMC is opposing CAA to appease its vote bank politics.”
Last week, Union Home Minister Amit Shah reiterated that the implementation of CAA is inevitable as it is the law of the land. He had accused Banerjee of misleading people on the issue during a party meeting in Kolkata.
The feisty TMC boss had alleged that the BJP is manipulating the citizenship issue for political advantages. The promise of implementing the controversial CAA was a major electoral platform for the BJP in the last Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in West Bengal. The saffron party’s leaders believe it played a significant role in the BJP’s ascendancy in the state.
According to the manual of parliamentary procedures, the rules for any legislation should have been framed within six months of presidential assent or seek an extension from the Committees on Subordinate Legislation in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Since 2020, the home ministry has been taking extensions at regular intervals from the parliamentary committees for framing the rules.
Several people lost their lives during the protests or police action after Parliament passed the law.
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